Thread Play On The Capri

Have been quietly playing with my new machine the Handiquilter Capri 18. Very happy with how she is performing, so the other day I spent the entire day trialing different thread combinations.  I did struggle with the colourful and shiny Polyester threads on my Sweet 16 and wanted to see how I go on this machine. I am glad that I have had those 2 years with the Sweet 16 before I got this machine...I am approaching this obviously much calmer and with a lot more knowledge than when I first started with the Sweet 16.

Trialed Fantastico from Superior threads. Initially used Bottom Line in the bobbin (self wound) and set the Towa value to about 180 (using a table that is provided by Superior threads). That was ok but I had a fair amount of pokies which just did not want to budge (I was using Soft and Bright Polyester batting which was probably not helping). Also, variegated thread can be a bit tricky in general. Changed over to Aurifil 50/2 thread in the bobbin. Set the bobbin tension to about 230...that is the amount of bobbin tension that I seem to like. I do set my bobbin using the 'standing the bobbin up in your hand' method but I do also check with the Towa what value it is. I find that very handy as it gives me a starting point for the bobbin tension. Stitching along was fine, but I still had some pokies on the back.

Switched to the orange variegated King Tut, also with Aurifil 50/2 thread in the bobbin. First time I ever tried this thread for freemotionquilting. Liked it better than the shiny Polyester thread for some reason. Reduced the bobbin tension to see whether I could get rid of those pokies on the back and finally at a Towa value of about 190 the pokies disappeared largely

Tried the Fantastico thread also with reduced Aurifil bobbin tension...heaps better and hardly any pokies.

Also did a fair amount of mucking around with the stitch regulator...as I am not attending our local group I cannot really ask anybody on how to use this properly, so I just played with different speed settings and literally went by what was feeling ok, i.e. movement was even and not jerky and the machine was literally just cruising along with me. Found that for an overall design like this meander I needed to set the Cruise speed fairly high to get that nice rhythm going. Worked really well and looks great.
Also did some more research on the Towa gadget in general and thread weights etc. Very productive day...I think I am beginning to understand this much better.

Karin